Marc de Gooijer had been involved for years as a diaconal worker and team leader at Thuis in West in Rotterdam. After Cees van Breugel's departure as evangelist, he felt called to take over this position. On 22 March, he was confirmed as evangelist for Hart voor West.
Because he has long been active in the district, the new position feels natural to Marc. What has he learned in these years and how does he weave evangelising into everyday life? A conversation about being Jesus’ hands and mouth in your own neighbourhood.
What does it mean to be an evangelist?
“Evangelist is a calling to make the good news of Jesus visible and audible. In Rotterdam, we always say: ‘’No words but deeds'. Indeed, I think it starts with deeds. We need diaconal work to do missionary work. When you meet and support people, space comes up in their minds to think about meaning and faith.
It often happens that our team members help people in poverty and then are asked: ‘why are you doing this?’ Then you can say that you believe it is Jesus” mission to help others. People usually respond positively to that. They like the fact that we do this."
How are you an evangelist?
“More important than your title is who you are yourself. That you close to Jesus lives and follow Jesus from there. That means looking in the neighbourhood with the eyes of Jesus, listening with the ears of Jesus, speaking with the mouth of Jesus and letting your feet and hands go at the behest of Jesus. That is important in every city and village.”
How do you stay close to Jesus?
“We are often doers: roll up our sleeves and go. But precisely the moments of silence with God, where you listen to Him, are very important in missionary work.
This is sometimes quite difficult. You quickly get consumed by things going on. It therefore helps to very consciously choose moments to space for God making it possible for Him to speak to you again. I myself try to walk with Him daily: literally walking or cycling, I go through the day's activities with Jesus.”
How to proceed in a diaconal-missionary project?
“It is important to be guided by what God intends. Space for God is important in that too. This is where we have convened listening sessions with the people involved in Heart for West. We prepared these by going into prayer and listening to God and context. Through the listening sessions, we notice which way we are being pushed. In doing so, we also say, ‘please guide us if we don't see it right’.
We also try to look closely at where in Rotterdam help is needed. We call that white spots: as the fields are white to harvest.”
What places will you end up in?
“We see that it is important to be active in the environment there are people. For instance, by visiting neighbourhood meetings, participating in activities, taking part in sports clubs et cetera. You can mean a lot as a Christian. Paul says: we are a readable letter. Of course you can hand out a letter, but actually we ourselves are the evangelisation leaflet.
Of course, I also often get thoughts like, ‘are these people waiting for me?’ But we have a God who himself says, ‘I am with you’. I try to take that thought with me. You might be looked at oddly once. But is that the worst thing?”
What do you organise yourselves?
“In Rotterdam, we started with coffee mornings and a neighbourhood meal. That's also how you meet people. These people often have certain questions. So we were asked if we had children's work. So we started looking for children's workers and started children's activities. At some point, some local residents wanted to know more about the gospel. Then we started celebrations on Sundays and a so-called ‘zinc café’.
Our activities have long since ceased to be for the neighbourhood, but with the neighbourhood. We do our diaconal work with 120 volunteers: all kinds of people from the neighbourhood who enjoy building with us. For example, Muslims also help with the children's Bible club. In this way, we can share the gospel in a very casual way.”
How do you have a conversation about faith?
“I have learned not to come up with my story right away, but more importantly ask questions to the other. In the gospels, you read about 250 questions Jesus asked. When you ask questions, you invite the other person to answer, to think about something and also to ask a counter-question.
If you go into the conversation with a purpose, the risk is that you stick your own story on the other person. On the contrary, I think it is nice to on an equal footing sitting down with the other person. When people ask me to read the Bible with them, I used to often feel that I was explaining the Bible. Nowadays, I more often ask: ‘What touches you in this section?’ And then: ‘What touches me in this section?’ Of course, the explanation then comes naturally at some point. But that way you do read together.”
